James: ‘Jeer Casillas, jeer Madrid’

James Rodriguez has reacted to the jeers directed at Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

A section of the Santiago Bernabeu crowd blamed Casillas for both Los Che goals and he was subjected to whistles for over an hour of the game.

However, James defended the Spain international ahead of his side’s Champions League semi-final second leg clash with Juventus on Wednesday.

“When you are on the pitch you are totally focused and don’t hear the whistles,” the Colombian told gathered media.

“When one person is whistled then I believe we are all whistled. We should be united and supporting one another. Our fans should be our 12th man.

“Casillas is our captain. He has won a lot of trophies here and you have to respect him for that.”

James feels that Madrid are going to have to show great intensity when they take on the Italians after losing the first leg 2-1 in Turin last week.

“Juve are going to sit back and we’ll need to concentrate and play with a lot of intensity. We must be intense, attentive to everything, and take advantage of the chances we’ll create to score.

“We need to be able to get an early goal so they leave spaces at the back. I expect them to play five defenders and we’ll have to be patient and look for options, but we have the players to deal with it.”

Tags Casillas James Rodriguez Juventus
La Liga - Club News